{"id":25746,"date":"2020-09-14T19:38:52","date_gmt":"2020-09-14T23:38:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/?p=25746"},"modified":"2020-09-14T20:32:44","modified_gmt":"2020-09-15T00:32:44","slug":"getting-to-know-natacha-lagouge-arnaud-caffa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ice-dance.com\/site\/getting-to-know-natacha-lagouge-arnaud-caffa\/","title":{"rendered":"Getting to Know: Natacha Lagouge & Arnaud Caffa"},"content":{"rendered":"

Photo by Harumi Akabane<\/em><\/p>\n

France’s Natasha Lagouge & Arnaud Caffa are the first team in our New Team Series!\u00a0<\/p>\n

\nTell us about your individual skating journeys?<\/strong>
\nNL: I did my first steps on the ice at four years old in Strasbourg. I competed as a singles skater until my fifteen years. In 2014, I trained during one year in Moscow, half of the year as a single and after I switched to ice dance. After, I wanted to come back to France and I knew that in Lyon there is a really good ice dance center. When I contacted coaches, they said that there is a boy who is also looking for a partner, and when I came to Lyon I met my first partner and we skated together during three seasons. I participated twice at the World Junior Championships in 2017 and 2018. Then we stopped our partnership and I was looking for a new partner. At the end of January, with Arnaud and I started to skate together.<\/p>\n

AC: I actually had a late start, which is one of my biggest strength nowadays as I am very aware that there is no time to waste anymore. I started skating for fun at 10 years old (free skating), and I started ice dancing at the age of 12. I had 3 partners before Natacha, who I started skating with in January 2019. In 2016, I did my first Junior Grand Prix, which made me enter in the French national team. In May 2017, I went to Detroit for a tryout and stayed there for a year as I was skating with a Canadian girl at Igor Shpilband’s skating school. I came back to France in June 2018 and skated by myself for 6 months. Natacha and I had a tryout at the end of November 2018, another one at the end of December 2018, and finally started skating together in January 2019.<\/p>\n

What drew you to ice dance?
\n<\/strong>NL: When I was a single skater, I always loved skating skills and spins and at one moment I didn’t feel I was improving anymore. I started to develop a huge interest in ice dancing and I really wanted to try and continue my career as an ice dancer.<\/p>\n

AC: My sister and my mom first started free skating with me when I was a child. I skated for a couple of months and then stopped. I came back on the ice when I was 10.<\/p>\n

What are your earliest skating memories?
\n<\/strong>NL: When my parents took me to the ice rink by car at early morning with my skates already put on.<\/p>\n

AC: My second group exhibition of the club at the end of the season after two years of skating, I was 12.<\/p>\n

\"LagougeTell us about how your partnership started (tryout, etc.)?
\n<\/strong>NL: Very quickly after announcing the end of my partnership with my previous partner, Arnaud sent me a message on messenger. We decided to do a first try out at the end of November in Lyon which went very well and then we did a second one in Paris at the end of December. We decided to skate together and At the end of January Arnaud came to Lyon.<\/p>\n

AC: I first heard on social media (Instagram to be precise) that Natacha and her old partner were breaking up. I directly sent her a text and asked her for a tryout. We tried out in Lyon at the end of November 2018, for a bit more than a week, we also had a tryout in Paris as well for 2 days at the end of December 2018, and we finally started to skate together after my exams at the very end of January.<\/p>\n

Who are your coaches?\u00a0 Tell us about your training location.
\n<\/strong>We are coached by Olivier Schoenfelder, Muriel Zazoui, Marien De La Ascension, Neil Brown and Emi Hirai, and we are training at the International Academy of Lyon.<\/p>\n

Tell us some of your favorite memories from your first season skating together.<\/strong>
\nNL: When we hold the hand of each other for the first time and our first podium at Andorra in November 2019. These are two of my favorite memories.<\/p>\n

AC: My favorite memories are the following: the first one would be at the beginning of the season when we did an improvisation on a special song to me. The second one is when we placed third at the international competition of Andorra in November 2019.<\/p>\n

Tell us about your training challenges during the pandemic.<\/strong>
\nNL: During the quarantine, I continued to do physical preparation with cardio and stretching to maintain a good physical condition. I also use this time to study and prepare for my exams.<\/p>\n

AC: I had to keep in shape during the quarantine, therefore I worked out every single day of those two months of confinement (except\u00a0for 3 days). I ran, I was very careful on my diet, and I was also studying a lot as we usually don’t have that much time for school.<\/p>\n

How do you approach this season as it is still very unpredictable?<\/strong>
\nNL: We know that this season is unpredictable but we train quite normally and we will adapt for the competition.<\/p>\n

AC: I\/We try to train as if nothing was happening, in the sense that we have the same preparation as if it was a normal season starting. We, of course, pay attention to the hygiene restrictions and we focus on our work, our improvement.<\/p>\n

Can you give us some background on your programs this season (if available) ?\u00a0<\/strong>
\nAC: The short will be even more fun than last year, we are working a lot on this one. The free dance, however, is going to be very classy and surprising. Something that no one would expect us to skate to.<\/span><\/p>\n

If you could have a lesson from any ice dancer past\/present, who would it be?<\/strong>
\nNL: I really would enjoy having a lesson with Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir. I admire them for the skaters they are and for their career.<\/span><\/p>\n

AC: I would take a lesson from Christopher Dean, or Tessa and Scott. I caaaan’t piiiiiiiick\u00a0!!!<\/p>\n

What do you like most about skating with your partner?<\/strong>
\nNL: \u00a0 He is a wonderful dancer, a hard worker, he is also really supportive and inspires me every day!<\/p>\n

AC: What I like most about skating with my partner is her talent, her hard work, but most importantly, her SOUL, the kindness of her soul.<\/p>\n

Is there anything you would like our readers to know about you as a team?<\/strong>
\nNL: We live with a deep passion for ice dancing that drives us to our same dream and goals.<\/p>\n

AC: Some people might not expect us, but we are working very hard to get where we want to be, and I’m 100% convinced that Natacha and I have a connection that only a few teams in the game have. I’m saying that in a very humble way. WATCH US!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Photo by Harumi Akabane France’s Natasha Lagouge & Arnaud Caffa are the first team in our New Team Series!\u00a0 Tell us about your individual skating journeys? 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